


Enflamed Passions

by Ononymous



Series: Christmas 2019 Stories and Requests [12]
Category: Deltarune (Video Game), Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Pre-Deltarune
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:33:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22151095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ononymous/pseuds/Ononymous
Summary: As one of many favours they freely offer to their friends and neighbours, Asgore agrees to help Rudy have a barbecue for his wife's election campaign.
Relationships: Asgore Dreemurr & Asriel Dreemurr & Kris & Toriel, Asgore Dreemurr & Rudy Holiday, Rudy Holiday & Noelle Holiday
Series: Christmas 2019 Stories and Requests [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1580731
Kudos: 6





	Enflamed Passions

Asgore Dreemurr stood at the edge of the field. Few of the crowd there were not giving him their undivided attention. They couldn't even turn their heads if they wanted, and that included those monsters who normally couldn't turn their heads at all. Lots of Hometown were willing to pay attention to this unassuming man, like he was a King. They all waited for what he had to say.

"The mayonnaise will be here shortly!"

His vital announcement delivered, the crowd turned inwards again, resuming scores of conversations that had been put on hold. Everything was under control, so no more need for them to take action. And Asgore wasn't lying.

"Gorey, here I am!"

And so she was. Toriel walked up to him, two heavy bags of shopping carried effortlessly. Behind her was Asriel carrying a smaller third bag, while refusing to let go of Kris' hand, who followed their big brother without question.

"Good timing, Tori, I was concerned people was wondering why we hadn't started cooking."

"Thank you, dear. Honestly, I still cannot believe Jerry forgot to pick up the condiments and buns after assuring Rudy and Dannie he would handle it."

"Crazier things've happened," said the only person sitting down nearby. "Like that time he paid me back the twenty bucks I loaned him! Wa ha ha!"

Gerson's character testimony sent Asriel into giggles, while Kris looked over to their teacher and smiled. Gerson shot them a wink, knowing he was safe from Toriel's disapproval of his disapproval, both from her innate respect for the elderly, and her now being waylaid.

"The woman of the hour!" called Rudy, a young doe clinging to his trouser leg for dear life. "I mean, apart from the woman of the hour we're all here for, ain't that right, sweetie?"

"Yeah, Mommy!" squeaked Noelle.

"Yeah, Mommy," he repeated. "I gotta say Tori, you got back here in record time. Hope you're not too out of pocket, you know Dannie's campaign will refund it."

"Oh, it was not too bad, Rudy," said Toriel. "Shyra was more than happy to offer a discount. And here are the receipts," She handed them over, "so that Dannie can file it with the electoral commission."

Rudy looked at the automatically printed, hard-to-alter slips of paper and stuffed them into his pocket without much interest. "God, the effort my wife goes to when it's already in the bag. I still can't wrap my antlers around why she tries so hard."

"Because the moment you stop trying is the moment you've lost, Rude."

"Mommy!"

Noelle finally detached herself from her father, catching sight of the new host she could attatch to. Dancer Holiday wore a respectable blue outfit that showed she meant business, but undersold how willing she would be to run you over. It meant she was relatable. This image was underlined by her picking up her daughter, to polite applause from the crowd.

"Asgore, Toriel," she began, "thanks for helping us cook all this meat." She gestured to the already overloaded table Asriel was busy unpacking his mother's shopping on to.

"Oh it's nothing, Dannie," chuckled Asgore, "anything to help our friends. And the best candidate by far."

"The _only_ candidate! Wa ha!"

Dannie closed her eyes at the wizened remarks, and composed herself. "Well, everyone must be starving by now. Rudy, are you going to get started?"

"Sure thing my little Sleighbell," he whispered, before he and Asgore took their places.

Rudy's grill was almost as broad as he was tall, a sleek black contraption hooked up to four cannisters of gas. Asgore's grill was a small circle by comparison. A red bowl with rust and flakes of paint everywhere. There was no visible fuel. Not even a bag of charcoal. Rudy proceeded to fiddle with nobs everywhere, a soft hiss told him the gas was flowing, and with pushing the appropriately dramatic red button, flames licked up among the sleek black bars of the grill. Meanwhile Asgore just took the lid off his well-used grill, held a large fuzzy hand over it and flames emerged from thin air.

"You need a little more oomph, Asgore," said Toriel, "I do not want to risk you undercooking anything."

She raised her own hand, and the flames grew slightly larger and hotter. Giving his wife an appreciative nuzzle, Asgore joined Rudy by the table getting the first batch of offerings to the supreme beings who clearly loved barbecue.

"I'm gonna have half the crowd fed before you get a single hot dog on a plate," bragged Rudy.

Shuffling his stack of burgers like a deck of cards he dealt two dozen across the grill, before cramming sausages wherever he could to maximize his throughput. Asgore had taken a much smaller pile of meat, given his smaller surface area to work with, and was carefully laying out burgers one at a time, each one sizzling in direct contact with the magical flames. By the time his loadup was finished, a queue was already forming for Rudy's grill. After his first round of flips, he turned to Gerson, sitting happily in his seat with a Sea Tea.

"Want the first one, Gerson? Senior Citizens have nothing to fear with Dannie as mayor."

"Nah, pass. I'm waitin'."

"Waiting? For what? The line's getting pretty long as it is."

"Huh, so it is! Well I'm still waitin'."

The offer made and politely rebuffed, Rudy paid it no more mind. Instead he returned to his charge, stabbing each burger with a meat thermometer to confirm nobody's toilet would get too much use later on. Asgore, also more focuse on what he was cooking than his own respectable but shorter queue, prodded each one with his tongs and paid careful heed to the colour of the juices dripping into the flames.

It was never a race, but Rudy won the non-race hands down, soon serving meat to the pre-breaded paper plates Dannie had helped prepare, to show she was willing to put in the elbow grease needed to focus on local issues. Properly loaded, the crowd shuffled over to the table with the meat and condiments, where Toriel and Asriel helped them find whatever relish or salad they were looking for, Kris just watching the varying shapes, sized and colours of the monster residents of Hometown as they sidled by. Some didn't wait to return to their friends and family, taking bites as soon as their food was configured to their liking.

"Oof, yeah, that hit the spot..."

Rudy took pride in the mutters he heard behind him, confident it meant his wife could really rack up a good high score in a few weeks. He continued to dish out all sorts of meat automatically, but his ego went in search of more to "accidentally" overhear.

"Been waiting ever since I heard he was cooking."

"I know, I half wanted him to just dump it into my maw."

"You didn't get from him?"

"Nah. I know he's great, but Rudy feeds you faster."

Rudy's ears twitched at this last remark, and he actually looked behind him. While most of the guests retreating from the grills were his, he realised it was mostly those who had been with Asgore who were rejecting the virtue of patience. As if to underline this, Gerson chose that minute to waltz stright up to Asgore and extract tribute. This was something Gerson had asserted, for unlike Rudy Asgore wasn't one to allow cutting in line, and yet too polite to decline their former teacher.

"Hey Muttler," said Rudy, "cover a couple of minutes?"

"Arf!"

"Thanks. And don't pant over the meat, dog drool is an acquired taste."

"Woof woof!"

Rudy made his way over to Gerson's chair, where he was now tucking into a burger with about fifteen times more salad than meat. He looked up at Rudy, but then continued to chew on his food. With a deliberate swallow, he was now ready for talk, his yellow eye regarding the erstwhile head chef.

"Can I help ya, Mister Holiday? Need me to get my postal vote in?"

"Why Asgore?" Rudy was getting to the point. "You could have had a burger half an hour ago. I seem to recall offering you the very first one?"

"Izzat so?" Gerson tapped his leathery head. "Funny, I reckon I can't remember!"

"Har har. C'mon, old man, spill the beans."

"Jealous, are we? My my, if young Dannie knew..."

"It's not that, I just..." Rudy exhaled, his ears drooping. "I'm feeding people and getting them in mind to vote for Dannie and that's great, but... It's almost like a job."

"Almost? Ha!" Gerson slapped his good knee. "Boy, you're _treatin'_ it like a job! Mass producin', dumping it on the plate, 'Next please'. Now Fluffybuns there, he's puttin' a little of himself into each burger. Taking the time to get it right. Dunno if there's any objective truth to this or whether it's just great marketing, but that seems to enhance the flavour, don'tcha think?"

Rudy twiddled with his moustache, deep in thought at this wisdom. But a retort came to him. "Gerson, we wouldn't have time if we did every burger like Asgore did. If I read each one a bed time story or whatever, this barbecue would last for days."

"I ain't sayin' you're doing it wrong," said Gerson, waving his hand, "just that different mindsets leads to different results. Just gotta keep that in mind when setting your expectations. Hell, I wouldn't wanna be on the receiving end of the riot if you were as slow as he was. Wa ha ha!"

Rudy joined his old teacher in laughing. Taking the trivial so seriously was a great way to let off steam after all. The laughter didn't last long however, as a shriek rent the atmosphere.

"Noelle?!"

Sure enough his daughter was running up to him, terrified. "D-daddy!"

He scooped her up. "Are you okay, sweetheart? What's wrong?"

"K-Kris... they exploded!"

Asgore turned around at the sound of his youngest's name. He was utterly nonplussed. "Exploded? Are you sure? Where are they?"

"T-there!" she pointed at a tree beyond the condiments, not wanting to look back at the carnage.

"Gerson," said Asgore, "I'm sorry to ask, but... well I remember that end of school year barbecue you hosted, and-"

"Yeah yeah, I'll hold down the fort. I'll send my bill to Mrs Holiday!"

The two friends made their way to the tree, Noelle burying her face so she wouldn't risk a glimpse. Toriel and Asriel followed closely behind. There was Kris, their green jumper almost covered in red. Along with much of the rest of them.

"K-Kris?!" bleated Asriel in shock. "Is that... blood?"

The huge grin on Kris' face gave a subtle clue they weren't as dismembered as their current palette suggested. Toriel clearly suspected as much, stepping forward to get a sample of the "blood", which she tasted.

"Ketchup," she concluded, "I had wondered why we were suddenly running low." She glowered at the young troublemaker. "Well somebody is getting an emergency bath right this instant! Asgore, can you and Asriel keep helping with the barbecue? I shall see you later."

"Of course, Tori. Call if you need me."

Kris showed no remorse for the prank, indeed following their mother as she walked towards the car. Rudy looked up from reassuring his daughter she hadn't just witnesses a murder.

"Humans," he mused, "I think all that physical matter can unbalance their brains."

"Oh," said Asgore, with the slightest of force behind his words, "Kris is just a prankster. I think they like to stand out because, well, they already do."

"Sure thing," said Rudy. "Well, better get back before all the meet is grilled to a black lump or drowned in slobber. Who wants a shoulder ride?"

"Me!" said Asriel.

"Sorry Cap, my shoulders are taken."

With that, he put Noelle on his shoulders, Noelle grabbing his antlers like handlebars, and returned to the barbecue making "broom broom" noises, taking his time with detours as Noelle steered him. Asriel, a little big for that, merely followed his father. The incident soon got reduced to a funny story to remind people of the good time they had at an election rally. That and Asgore's burgers.

**Author's Note:**

> Original Suggestion: dad on dad grill off
> 
> Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!


End file.
